


The Lion and the Snake

by Genesister (papirini)



Series: Bangs and Thangs [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Animal Death, Animal Transformation, Arranged Marriage, Background Relationships, Body Horror, Cows, Curse Breaking, Fairy Tale Curses, Horses, Monsters, Namely It Involves Eating Said Cows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-09 17:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papirini/pseuds/Genesister
Summary: "Mother." I could imagine the anguish in his voice as he dropped to his knees in front of the throne where she sat. "I cannot leave the kingdom. A monstrous white beast, sleek as a snake, blocks my path - it's the Lindorm of rumor. He claims..."No doubt her face went pale, and her hands shook as they grasped the arms of the throne, tight as chains. No doubt that he noticed, and that his heart sank at her reaction, even as his father - our father - questions what the matter is."Mother. Answer me truthfully: is he my twin?"A adaptation of a fairy tale about a noble prince, his beastly brother who desires a bride, and some cows.





	The Lion and the Snake

 

 

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom. In that kingdom was a king and a queen, and they had a son. The boy was a prince, and it was said that he was the most handsome and wisest prince to ever be born. It was said he was blessed by the gods to be as perfect as can be. It was said he was born to be king. Everyone loved him, and they called him the Prince of the Red Rose.

And in that same kingdom, there was a monster, a beast, over 100 feet long, covered in scales and feathers and venomous bristles. It was called the Lindorm, and the people of the kingdom spoke of it in furtive whispers and feared its presence. Cows and sheep disappeared, leaving only blood. It was believed that the beast would engorge itself on maidens that went missing. It was said he was born to be the devil, and hid underground and in the shadows, biding his time until he declared war on the world.

I could very easily disagree on one point. I didn’t eat maidens; I wasn’t a maneater at all. Humans smelled too disgusting to eat. Everything else, however, was – is – true. I was a true abomination, with no name but that of a beast. I was the one cursed by everyone to bear the name of Lindorm. There was no lie about any of that. As far back as I’ve been alive it was all I could be.

Even when I was a baby, I was an abomination. I can still remember the moment I was born, when I unfurled and slithered into my life. I remember how my mother’s belly was still round and full, still carrying that other, healthy, perfect child yet unborn within her. I cried for comfort and warmth as I helplessly flailed with boneless terror, covered in ooze and blood and placental muck. Instead, my mother screamed in terror upon seeing me, and the midwife seized me by my tail and flung me out of the window.  I was impaled on the decoration of a parapet as I fell, slicing off a chunk of my body; no one came to check on me or even cared. And as I bled violet ooze on the ground where I landed, reviled and forgotten, I then heard my brother’s first cries from the window.

I hated him from that moment, for I could also hear my mother comfort him with the love she would never give me. I vowed I wouldn’t forget if I lived. I would never forgive him. Indeed, as we both grew up, I watched from afar as he became the strong and beautiful man everyone adored. As he became everything I was not, or could ever dream of being.

As he, the so-called Prince of the Red Rose, basked in the glory and light of the sun, I was consigned to the shadows and filth of the earth. I stole what I could eat, while he had his choice of the finest sweetmeats on golden plates. First, only my anger sustained me. It was my anger that helped me to survive, and even helped me to grow so that I could eat worms. Indeed, I grew with my anger, sometimes entire feet within hours, and as I got older, and bigger, my hunger turned to livestock stolen under cover of night. While those who saw that prince flocked with reverence to see him, those who were somehow unlucky enough to have caught sight of me turned and fled in fear.

I, meanwhile, was spoken of in hushed terror as my legend grew as large as my body. But so well did I hide myself that no one suspected that the tales were true, especially not in the castle. In that accursed place where the prince was, they lived a blessed life. But not for long. I vowed I would gain what was due to me. I would have what was so long denied me: my birthright.

I knew it would happen. He was to come through and cross the Great River, to proceed beyond the kingdom to finalize his marriage negotiations with some far-flung princess of equal blood. That was when I struck. When he and his entourage of guards were at the border of his lands – _my_ lands – I emerged from the muck of the water, and rose up to my full height, surprising him before he could get to the bridge he was meant to cross.

His eyes were wide, as was his mouth, as he saw my many rows of teeth and sharp bristles flare out in warning. His horse responded by bolting with a screeching neigh, bucking him off before taking off. I watched, bemused, as his retainers gathered, letting out shouts of terror as they readied their weapons and lunged forward to help him up. What bumbling fools.

“Get back! Get back!”

“It’s real! It’s the beast!”

 _Good_ , I thought, as I showed my bristles. Sharp, dripping with venom, and dangerous, like the rest of me. _They fear me. If they are still have their wits, they’ll do what I want to save their skins._

“The Lindorm!!” One slight knight in particular instantly drew his blade, and I sensed he did so without a hint of fear, much to my bitter amusement. “It’s you, isn’t it? You dare to impede us with your presence and threaten aggression towards the Red Rose? You’ll regret threatening _my prince_ , you giant, slimy—”

“Stand down.”

“What?” Of all things, it was the prince’s hand which stayed his knight’s. How irritatingly calm he seemed as he once more stood, tall and graceful. His demeanor was legendary, and it showed at that moment. I knew how to shake him up, of course. “But this monster’s—”

“Keith.” His voice was steady, even as he raised his head up to look at me directly once more. How regal of him. “This creature hasn’t attacked us yet. Because of that I must assume that it hasn’t appeared before us without reason. Perhaps we can settle this peacefully.”

His word seemed to be enough to stop his guards, even the one he gave a name to, and they slowly lowered their weapons. They didn’t put them away, though. Naturally they didn’t trust a monster like myself. I was quite massive even then. I could quite easily pick all of them up in my mouth with a single bite if I so chose.

“Now, what is it you want, beast?” The prince spoke to me. “We have urgent business and must cross this bridge. Is there a reason you block our path this day?”

“I seek redress.” I slithered closer to the group. “Of a wrong being done to me by you, oh kind and beautiful Prince of the Red Rose.”

My sarcasm was riling the guard called Keith up, judging by his growling.

“A wrong, done by us?” Confusion clouded the prince’s face. “But we’ve never dealt with something like your kind before. What have we done to have you impede our journey?”

“It is but a simple matter!” I brought my head up. “Oh good and noble prince, you are off to meet a princess bride, aren’t you? But I can’t allow this to happen, you see. Not yet.”

The prince’s eyes narrowed, and I could see the grips of his guards tighten on their weaponry. I let the tension hang before I speak again. I would savor the moment.

“Not until _I_ am married. After all,” I lowered my head to the ground, so my eyes might meet the prince’s directly. “Is it not tradition for the eldest heir of the kingdom to marry before all others?”

That shattered the prince’s calm demeanor. I laughed as he took a step back, the sweat forming on his brow, his eyes widening until they were as large as tea saucers at the mere idea. I simply edged my mouth closer to his, ensuring he could see the fangs in my grin. All around us, the knights shouted, and weapons were once more drawn and readied to attack me.

“You—how dare you! The beast is a liar, don’t listen to him!” That irritating small knight, Keith, was once more pressing forward. “Don’t come closer or that giant venomous tongue of yours will be silenced!”

His small blade gleamed purple in the light. I sneered at it; what a fool. He was more so, as his prince didn’t move, didn’t order an attack, and thus the knight was forced again, for the moment, to stay his hand.

“My…brother?” The prince at last spoke, then shook his head. “No, impossible…! I am an only child. I have no other siblings through my parents’ issue, not even through illegitimacy. As well, I would think I would be informed if I ever had an older brother to begin with!”

“Is that so? What an unfortunate omission by our dear mother, then,” I scoffed. “I suppose that would be the story she tells you, tells everyone, that you’re her perfect only son. Why would she ever claim me as her child after casting such a hideous thing like me out on the night we were born?”

“Cast you out…?”

It was clear that my words rankled. His face was pale, like death warmed over. Like the cow I ate that morning, albeit with less blood loss.

“Hm? You seem shocked. Maybe you’re reluctant to heed my words. Why don’t you ask the queen yourself?” I motioned towards the horizon behind him. “Go on. Go and ask our dear mother about me, about the monster she gave birth to. Unless you’re afraid to face the truth? Even if you are…”

I closed the distance between us, wrapping myself halfway around him. I could feel arrows bouncing off my skin like rain as I brought the prince within inches to my snout.

“…It matters not to me. I will not yield until I have my birthright acknowledged.”

With that, I simply slithered backwards, shaking the guards off me as I settled back down onto the bridge, my tongue lashing forward. I made it clear - wouldn’t move and wouldn’t be moved.

“I…” The prince staggered back from the terror I had wrought on him, turning to his guards as he fell into the dirt. “Horse.”

“Shiro—”

“Horse!” His voice sharpened, brooking no opposition, not even from that mincing Keith. “ _NOW_!”

Instantly he was given one, and he threw himself onto it, grasping the saddle as he struggled to stay upright. The horse, meanwhile, shook and neighed in fear as the prince turned its head towards me. If I was ever partial to horse meat, I might have chased him further on that animal just for jest.

“Stay…stay here.” As if he no doubt still commanded the situation around him, he barked orders to his guards. “I would speak to my mother of this beast. If he lies I shall return with the army.”

“Surely you cannot think he is being truthful—"

“—If he speaks true I will come alone!” He looked up at me, still sweating, still nervous. “Beast. You will not harm my guards while I am gone.”

“Is that a threat?” I sneered. “Even while you run away from me?”

“More that I wish for an assurance of good faith while I’m absent. A promise that your real intentions are not simply to come here and harm the kingdom. Of course, I am aware that I am in no position to ask such a thing of you, but I do not wish for bloodshed.” He gave an especially pointed look to the knight Keith. “If you speak truthfully and are royal, it also wouldn’t do for you to harm the subjects who are sworn first and foremost to protect you.”

It was...an irritatingly good point. I hissed.

“Very well. I will not harm them, if they do not try to harm me again.” Given how the guards held their weapons, the chances seemed very low indeed. “We shall see, brother. We shall see.”

With a last look at the situation, the prince took off, as fast as the wind. I, meanwhile, slithered around the guards, waiting for one of them to be stupid enough to strike me. Maybe Keith. I was certain Keith would.

 

* * *

 

Much to my disappointment, not even Keith attacked me. However, the prince returned alone, as I naturally knew he would. As I unfurled to allow the guards to see this, a wave of gasps rocked them all as they saw their prince’s sorrowful countenance, and the lack of an army behind him.

“Your Highness!”

“No, no, it cannot be…!”

The prince didn’t respond, not until he dismounted his horse. Then, he looked up to me.

“I have spoken to my mother. _Our_ mother.” The guards were deathly silent as he spoke. “She admitted the truth. Admitted to your parentage – and how it came to be. Do you know of that tale?”

“Oh?” I tilted my head. “I know of when I was born. Why would I need to know of before?”

“She told me, so it’s only fair to tell you.” Fair. _Fair._ I couldn’t help but grimace at the word. Nothing in my life was ever _fair._ “She…made a deal with a witch after years of childlessness. In return for her last ten breaths in life, two beautiful roses would spring forth from the ground on the first full moon, within the center of the royal garden. She was to eat one of the blooms of her choice - the red rose for a son, and the white rose for a daughter. She was warned not to eat both. She didn’t listen, and so she had twins.”

“And thus I was born of the white rose, and then _you_ came along to claim the red. Is that it?” Was he sad? He seemed to be. No doubt because he lost his birthright. Let him mourn, I thought. It was his fault I was this way, anyways. I deserved better. “Of course. And how _did_ our dear mother react, knowing I lived despite her tossing me out that high tower window?”

“She was…terrified. Devastated. It’s hard to describe seeing her as such over a child of hers.” The prince’s eyes narrowed as he cleared his throat. “Now. You spoke the truth, and so you’re my brother.”

“That’s right.” I smiled, terrifying as always. “I am the eldest. So, I am here to claim my birthright.”

I drew myself up again to my full height. Below me, all of the humans were as bugs.

“A bride for me, before a bride for you!”

 

* * *

 

And so it was that I was….welcomed into my family. Ah, when mother and father saw me, they trembled. Mother cried and didn’t stop crying, her tears wetting the carpets and clothing wherever she went. Father wept as well, and grew thin and sick at the sight of the child he never knew he had – but had to acknowledge as his.

Both dreaded me, I could tell, and merely bowed and scraped and complied when I demanded of them. My official crowning as heir took place in a lavish ceremony, and I was given a massive new crown made of gold, made just for my head. A new coat of arms was created for my existence, with canting arms to reflect my glorious nature. Gone was my brother’s lions and red roses; instead, the heraldry of the heir was to be the snakes I grew with, that I looked like, and the white rose that created me.

A new wing of the castle was built, so that my full girth could reside comfortably in my home. A stable of a thousand of the fattest calves was given to me, so I might have my feasts. Stained glass windows were commissioned, for the great hall of the castle to show my triumphant return to the world above. All people in the kingdom – even my family – were to call me Majesty, a title when before I had not even a name to call myself.

All feared me, just as they should have.

Save one.

“Well, well,” I was one day feasting on a cow some weeks later when the prince appeared before me. “What of my future bride? When shall I meet her?”

The prince sighed, daring to look at my eyes.

“Not yet…your Majesty.”

“What!” I hissed, spitting cow bits onto the floor and letting my tail bang against the wall to show my displeasure. The castle shook as I made my feelings known. “How do you mean _not yet_? How do I have no prospects when before I heard of princesses falling at your petal-strewn feet and begging for marriage! You…are simply stalling, aren’t you?”

The prince crossed his arms, and I could feel him bristle with just a hint of frustration.

“No…your Majesty.” The prince otherwise seemed unafraid of my rage, which only made me more annoyed. “There’s a procedure that needs to be followed, before you can meet anyone, when it comes to marrying you. First, you must be officially crowned as heir…”

“Which I’ll remind you, oh Red Rose, that I _have_ been!...”

“…and the announcement, along with a declaration of an intent to marriage, has been sent to all of the kingdoms beyond ours. But depending on their distance and circumstance, the journey can take weeks, even months, before any kingdom returns with a message for us, favorable or ill.” The prince looked me up and down, frowning. “And if the answer from these kingdoms is one of interest, then we must negotiate a bride’s dowry with those kingdoms and decide which one you would be most amenable to accepting.”

“Really?” I barked out a laugh, causing cow viscera to spray. “What a ridiculous process, if you speak the truth. Why not just bring them all here and I decide which maiden princess I marry!”

“No kingdom will send out a princess to meet you, your Majesty.” I quickly turned my head over to glare at the prince, who simply continued. “I don’t mean that as an insult. But the only respectable reason to send an unmarried royal woman out of her family household, and into another man’s, is through a finalized marriage.  You will very likely not meet your bride in person until the day you are wedded in the chapel. The best that we can do right now is to exchange portraits; we will need to commission the court artist to make a portrait to take to other courts.”

I gave a huff, diving my head into my giant-sized barrel of water. I swished my snout around, and gulped down several gallons before turning my irritated maw back towards him. He seemed to be sincere, which was utterly grating.

“Can’t you humans speed it up? Or maybe it’s because you’re just jealous of me and you’re making it complicated on purpose.” I grumbled. “I bet you’re just wasting my time. I should eat you and make someone else do it.”

“I’m afraid I’m not doing anything of the sort, your Majesty.” How was he so unflappable around me even after I threatened him? It was perplexing, and it made me want to bite his head off. “Your existence is new information to everyone, and the kings and queens of every land will desire to know why you’ve been kept secret, when up until now I’ve been shown as the only heir. They will have their own reasons for wanting to know of you, and not all of them will be favorable to you.”

I stared down at him for the moment, and he stared back at me. Much to my fury, I could find no fault in what he was saying. With a huff, I smashed my barrel of water open, causing it to flood and wash him out of the room.

“Get out!” I yelled at him even after he was long out of my sight, bristles up. “And if I learn you’ve been lying to me, you’ll feel the sting of my acid tongue! Do you hear!?”

I heard no reply from him, which just infuriated me more. Just to drive my point home, I went outside and smashed a cow to pulp with my bare tail. Then, I licked it up and spat it out at some farmers that got too close to me.

 

* * *

 

As the months went by, I could feel my irritation rise. My portrait was naturally taken and shown to any court that would have it. However, it seemed that with each passing month, a new letter would come from another kingdom, and with it, the answer as to whether their maiden princesses would be given to me in marriage. Each time, the answer was, so far, no. Their reasons varied, but it all seemed to go back to the fact that I wasn’t my _brother_ , the sweet and generous and kind prince. They didn’t know anything about me. I was too grotesque to behold. I wasn’t even human.

I was so angry that I ate half of my cow supply in three days, and grew twice as long and large as I had ever been. It was as it always had been, then - more angry I got at my situation, the larger I got. Perhaps that was my curse. One day I would get so large I would smash the entire kingdom under my tail and the rest of the world with what was left of my girth. As it was, I couldn’t fit into the wing they had made for me anymore – they had to expand it, and I was forced into the throne room for the time being. Even then, I had gotten quite large, it wasn’t comfortable, and I couldn’t wear my crown.

The prince, of course, didn’t make me feel any better as I curled around the columns and glared at him. Accompanying him was the trembling queen.

“Your…Majesty.” He looked up at me, something like resignation in his expression as he opened up yet another letter from yet another kingdom. Behind him, the queen wrung her hands. “We’ve just received another kingdom’s response to our marriage offer.”

“And?” I tightened myself around the column, my tail shaking violently. “ _And_?”

He looked down.

“…The answer is no—”

I couldn’t contain my rage. My tail smacked right into the prince’s side, sending him into a wall. He hit with a grunt, then crumbled to the floor.

“Takashi!” My mother screamed, running towards him. “Oh, my dearest child…!”

Her dearest. Unlike me. I wouldn’t allow it; I slammed my tail down in front of her, to separate her from her son, my brother. I then lowered myself to his face level as he came to, holding his head with a groan, and unfurled all of my feathered bristles out like a great fan towards him.

“Listen well, oh noble prince brother of mine.” I could feel the acid on my tongue begging to spit all over him as I spoke. “I am tired of this rigmarole and talk of tradition. I am tired of this preference for you over me. I am the heir now, and what I want, I get. And what I want, is a princess maiden for a bride, now. Something you and others around me don’t see to understand.”

He stared at me as I brought my snout ever closer to his, until my shadow completely darkened him and the cracked wall behind him.

“If the next kingdom refuses my generous offer of marriage, I will hold you responsible, and then, brother, my wrath will be unchained.” I could feel my anger churn in me, could feel another growth spurt shudder through me. I felt my tail grow even longer as I spoke. “First, l will destroy you. Then, I will crush this castle and this land you call your kingdom will be as a salted field. Nothing will grow, and everything will die. And it will be _all_ your fault.”

His eyes widened, and for the first time since we met, I could see his face pale once more at both my threat and the changes happening in front of him. Sweat began to bead down his brow as he no doubt thought of the terrors I could wrought with my new size. I let myself grin, teeth now as large as _Zweihänders_ , to punctuate my point.

“Do you understand?” I hissed, feeling an extra layer of feathers grow on my bristles. “Well?!”

“I…” The prince closed his eyes, his jaw tightening. “I understand…your Majesty.”

“ _Do_ you!?”

“…Yes.” He looked back up to me. Was that sadness in his eyes? Regret? Good. He should regret crossing me. “I understand. You will get your princess maiden, your Majesty, or my life will be forfeit.”

Slowly he stood up, still looking into my eyes. Perhaps he was looking for pity. He wouldn’t get any from me.

“Then go!” I let my tail rise, allowing him to reunite with our weeping, wailing mother. I could swear her hair was greying as the prince led her away. I laughed at their pathetic human emotions. So small, so weak! “And do not face me, until you have procured…a bride for me, before a bride for you!”

 

* * *

 

I knew my might, my anger, my monstrous nature would get me the results I wanted. After such a long time being forced to hate the world and the humans, it felt so wonderful to have my vengeance. If only they could bring me a princess maiden, of course, I felt my birthright would be sealed, and my family would suffer more for the injustices they had heaped upon me, simply for being born.

Within a week, I had my answer.

“My son…” It was not the prince, but the king, my father, who stood with his back stooped in front of me in the throne room, shakily opening an envelope. His face was full of shame and sorrow as he flapped open the paper within. “My son, we have at last received a favorable reply for…your marriage.”

There was no sign of my brother nearby. I looked at my father expectantly to continue. He was, at the time, infinitely more fun to watch, as he cowered often in my presence. This was no different.

“The princess of the kingdom of Altea, Allura.” Two servants came forward, revealing the stunning portrait of a tanned woman with hair the color of my skin. Her eyes were bright blue, her ears long and pointed, and skin dark and clear. She wore a blue dress, no doubt in the tradition of her people, with a sash the color of cow blood. “The most eligible princess in all the lands. Young, tall, beautiful, intelligent, and with impeccable royal blood and lineage. Your brother convinced her king to reconsider, and is finalizing the more…mundane details of her dowry as we—”

Of course. I snapped my jaw together, silencing my father.

“I care not of what the Red Rose is doing.” I slapped my tail on the wall. “When is our wedding!”

“…According to the missive…” My father’s shivering seemed to increase tenfold at my ire. “If all goes well, you shall be married by the end of this week. Does…does this please you, son? Are you at last happy?”

I stared at him, and he cowered back.

“I’d be far happier with you preparing for the wedding!” My tail slapped the wall again, creating a slow and steady dent in the stone. “We shall have it in the greatest and largest chapel! Everyone in my kingdom shall be required to attend, from the lowest slave to you! All…but my brother. Lock him up in your oubliette when he comes home!”

“What…” The king looked horrified at my demands. “But, my son, he is—”

“The bane of my life!” I snarl, letting acid drip out of my mouth to enhance my argument. “The reason my life has been how it was and is! Everything I am _not_! Why should I allow him to ruin _my_ glory? Do as I say! Or must I repeat the threat that my mother no _doubt_ has told you of!?”

That caused the king to tear up once more.

“And…do not call me your son. I am your Majesty, if you should deign to address me at all!” I threw my head up, snout up. “Now go, old man, before I decide to make you my dinner!”

The king didn’t respond. Instead, he turned and left, and soon I could hear his wailing echo through the towers. However, I didn’t care. I was basking in my pride, my revenge. My pettiness, but what was pettiness when I could do what my dear brother couldn’t?

And so, I was in tenterhooks, day in and day out, until the wedding, watching as what was no doubt the greatest wedding in the kingdom’s history. I watched as the decorations went up, and the chapel was transformed into a sign of my triumph. My new, larger castle wing was done in what had to be record time, in preparation for the wedding night. Snake and white rose banners dotted the countryside, and the livery of guards who would be forced to be in my wedding retinue. Soon enough, guards wearing the juniberry-and-unicorn livery of Altea arrived, in preparation for the arrival of my bride. All of them trembled at the sight of me, as I knew they would.

The night before the wedding, my brother finally arrived home with his guards, and found himself met with me and the castle constable. Naturally, when the chains came out, that idiot fool Keith jumped forward, blade out and ready to strike.

“NO!” For the first time, I saw genuine anguish in the prince’s eyes as he ran forward and shoved the guard to the ground. “No. I beg you, do not…don’t hurt him! I will surrender to him!”

“Shi—my prince…” I watched with glee as the boy’s eyes filled with tears. “If you go into the oubliette, I’ll never see you again. This evil Lindorm means to kill you, I know it!”

The prince bent down to the guard, standing up and holding his shoulders. There was a tenderness in his eyes that surprised me, and whatever gloat I had in my throat died at the sight. What was going on? Would the prince fight me after all?

“Keith. My…most loyal.” My brother at last spoke. “Remember what you promised me the day we met him, when we learned of our shared parentage. You said you would serve him and keep him as you do me, for his sake and for the sake of the kingdom. Please, do not harm your liege.”

With that, the guard wept, and I could swear I saw tears in the prince’s eyes as well. It filled me with joy and disgust.

“That goes for all of you.” With that, the prince brought his hands together, as his sign of submission to my will, and he looked up at me. “Let your Majesty have a long and healthy life, and a happy marriage to you and your bride. I shall leave my fate with them who shall take me into custody.”

“As you wish, oh noble prince brother of mine. Take him in chains to the oubliette!” I barked my orders, before turning to my brother’s remaining guards. “As for the rest of you, I am generous in light of my impending wedding. Kneel, and lay your swords down. Swear your allegiance to the White Rose, and I will spare you the indignities my brother shall endure!”

Slowly, one by one, every guard bowed. Even the defiant Keith bowed, though he dared to stare me down with angry eyes as he did so. I decided that, after my wedding, I would use my acid to ensure those eyes would never dare to give me such looks ever again.

 

* * *

 

The chapel was beautiful, glimmering with light and brightness from the gold and stone and glass polished just so for my wedding. However, by this time I was also taller than the bell tower at my full height. Thus, it was hard for me to see my bride when she at last arrived in her carriage, but when she did, what I saw of her was certainly a sight to behold.

I couldn’t see her face; much to my annoyance, I was told that Altean tradition didn’t allow for the bride’s veil to be lifted until I bedded her. Otherwise, she wore a many-layered white dress, the panniers completely overtaking the aisle space as she walked forward, with a train that was twice as long. Her height was tall, and her gait was slow, but steady. Behind her was the Altean retinue, the entirety which were weeping and wailing upon seeing me. Indeed, on both sides there was hardly a dry eye in the chapel.

“Oh, _oh_! What a monster!”

“He shall eat her! Our poor princess!”

“Someone must stop this!”

I let out a hiss, and instantly, the congregation was quiet. Slowly, I bent down towards my bride, practically feeling her tremble and hearing her sniffles beneath her veil. In that moment, I pondered what she could be thinking, knowing I, a monster, was to be the one she would be with for the rest of her life. That she could, perhaps would, one day produce my children, abominations like their father no doubt, like vipers skittering across the land.

I would still be a better husband to her than my brother could ever be, I haughtily thought. I would treat her like a goddess – she alone would never have to fear me!

“Do not be frightened, my bride.” My whisper was loud, and I didn’t care. “I shall treat you with the respect you deserve. Now. Shall we do our royal duties and wed?”

There was a pause, followed by a slow nod. And so, the priest appeared, his voice cracking as he proceeded to administer the vows. We said nothing else to each other, other than to nod and speak our willing assent. Then, that was it. I didn’t kiss her; even if I didn’t with to crush her from my size, Altean practice was to apparently do it during the wedding night.

“Now, I…” The priest gulped as he looked at me, then to my veiled beauty, then to me. “by the power of the gods…consecrate you as… _erm_ …man…man and wife.”

With that, the priest fled with a scream, and the tears continued from the pews unabated as I – and my bride – were led out. As we exited, I could see that Keith storm towards a horse, and argue with the owner as to using it to leave the kingdom, presumably forever. He lost the argument, and stormed away, where he couldn’t blight the remainder of my ceremony, as I slithered alongside the carriage that took my bride to the castle.

Ah, I felt invincible. At last, I had my birthright. At last, I was where I should have been, in the light, while my beautiful brother, who had taken everything from me, banished to the darkness. I felt I could do no wrong, as I was led into my wing – now made up as a bridal chamber, with a massive bed prepared for me and my bride.

I looked at all of the guards and nobles who had gathered nervously in the bridal chamber, and motioned towards the door with my head.

“Leave us. All of you.” They blanched; I growled. “Do as I say! I will be with my bride, _alone_!”

They cowered, and obeyed, and I was not sorry to see them go. After all, this was my bride. The first thing I could truly call my own, without anyone else’s light or presence diminishing it as mine. For the first time in my life, I found myself feeling content.

“My bride.” I slowly slithered my massive bulk towards her; she slowly stepped backwards, her head down. “I have told you, I shall not hurt you. Indeed, I feel nothing but happiness towards you now. You are mine, and to say that…it fills me with such emotions. Is this love, perhaps?”

There was no reply.

“…Do I displease you?” She was, perhaps frightened of me. Oh, I felt foolish, something I hadn’t felt much, if at all, before. I would have to show her that I was not what my brother no doubt claimed me to be. “I heard you were of good virtue, and intelligent and kind. I am aware I make…demands of you that would seem unreasonable, for what I am is not what you are.”

Still, there was no reply. I couldn’t help but feel…worried. Something was wrong. Did she not know how to talk? Did I really frighten her so that she was robbed of her voice?

“I…will not force you to do anything you do not wish, but I will only ask of you this single wish, and then, I will leave you be until you desire on your own to be with me.”

Slowly, finally, there was a nod.

“I wish to see your face.” The head came up at this. “I would have you look at me, my princess maiden, as I am, and I would see you, as you are. Let us be no misunderstandings as to what we both are. I am a monster, who hates the world, and…and you are not. Forgive me, for using you in such a way.”

The bride seemed to stare at me from under her thick veils, and quietly nodded again. She slowly, almost methodically, brought her veil up from her face, and it revealed—

I could not help but recoil. A hiss escaped my throat, rattling through my room, at the sight. _I should have known_ , beneath the pungent perfumes and voluminous dress and heavy ceremonial makeup. I saw now in the candlelight the square jaw, the thick, furrowed eyebrows, the 5 o’clock shadow. The grey eyes beneath black bangs I would recognize anywhere.

“ _You_!” My bristles bristled at the sight of what’s before me. I should have known. I should have seen. I had been tricked by…! “What…what is the meaning of this? You are not the princess of…. _you are no princess maiden at all!_ ”

“No. I’m not.”

“How did you escape—the oubliette!?”

 

 

“I was never put in there. I’m sorry, brother.” The Prince of the Red Rose, my detestable _brother_ , stared back at me, his mouth set in a frown. “The princess maiden you were set to marry never assented to it, and in fact is aware of what is happening here.”

I drew myself up in anger. How could I not be angry? There can only be one reason my younger brother has come, had tricked me and cut me so deeply, and it was easy to see the determination in his eyes.

“Very well.” I prepared my bristles for attack, and I bared my teeth, drawing myself as close to my full, massive height as I could. If this witless fool had any sense, he would run. Then again, seeing him take off his gloves, I was certain he had none. “Then I shall kill you for your insult! How do you like that, oh beautiful brother of mine?”

He calmly reached for the folds of his dress. His sword!—no. He brought up a dainty handkerchief.

“Or maybe I will scar you so, in a way no woman would ever wish to look on you.” He wiped the heavy makeup of marriage off his face, and I could my feathers flare at his pacific demeanor. “Do something, damn you! Run away before I eat you! I will eat you in a single gobble!”

“You won’t.” He dared to step forward, to defy me. “I know you won’t. If you want me to prove how I know, I—"

I finally snapped. I lunged forward, spitting acid at his face. He turned away, but I knew I hit him. I could see the smoke, and smelled the flesh as it sizzled.

“And now?” I could not help but mock him, the golden boy who had everything. He was everything I was not. He was beautiful, while I was ugly. He was good, while I was bad. “What do you think of me now? What will you do, oh prince, oh blemished and marred _brother_ of mine? Why don’t you strike me down? That’s what you came to do, isn’t it?”

He looked up at me once more, and I do see something of that fear in his eyes beneath the smoke of the acid spit. It was clear that the acid settling on his face would sizzle and pop with pain, that the effect would spread until he cleansed his face of the toxin. He didn’t seem to be moving to do that, however.

“Reveal your weapon!” I drew myself up to my full height. “Do your duty and slay the beast! Ha! Come on. A sword? I’ll bet it’s a sword, the sword of such a high and mighty prince! Draw it! _Draw it now_!!”

“…With pleasure!”

Finally. _Finally_ he acted, bringing his hand into the folds of his ridiculous dress, and—the dress fell, revealing another dress beneath it.

I was…not sure what to think. Was he mocking me? He had to be mocking me.

“Your weapon is wanting,” I grumbled. “Come, show me your real weapon! A blade, isn’t it? Like the blade your irritating favorite knight has! Or a bow, perhaps. A crossbow. Show me! _Show me_!!”

“Only if you shed your skin.”

“What!?”

“I…can only get my weapon if I shed all of my clothing.” My hate-worthy brother’s face turned red. “But I wouldn’t feel comfortable shedding my clothing and being naked, unless you do it too.”

“You’re joking, aren’t you?” Yet my brother looked down at my challenge, his face redder than ever. “…You aren’t joking. You want me to shed my skin. Before we fight.”

“Well, yeah…” The prince cleared his throat. “If I’m to to face my own brother, I want to face him whole and unimpeded in his own skin.”

“I _am_ unimpeded in my own skin.”

“Are you?” He folded his arms. “When’s the last time you molted? You’re a worm, in the end, aren’t you? Worms have to molt, monster or not. And from what I can tell, you’ve been doing a _lot_ of growing, especially recently, but not a lot of molting.”

I…he…

I dumbly stared at him. I am a worm. A monster. I…was I supposed to shed skin? How do I do that? I stopped, keeping my entire body as still as stone. I concentrate. After some time, I at last felt myself, somehow, wiggle inside my own skin. Oh.

Was this molting? I quietly began to increase that strange wiggling sensation, until, finally, I heard a snap. Dull, hardened skin began to fall away from me. It was not an unpleasant sensation. If anything, I felt strangely lighter. I clicked my tongue as I wriggled out of the last of the skin.

“Is that better? I’ve molted.”

“I don’t know…” The prince tilted his head. “I’m certain you can shed more. After all, I still have quite a few layers myself to take off.”

“Ridiculous,” I growled. “I cannot possibly shed my skin more than once!”

And yet, I could feel myself somehow wriggle beneath my skin still. Was that possible? Surely not, right? And yet, he was correct. I hated to admit it – I, the monster, the evil Lindorm, had never molted. I never thought to.

Well. Whatever his game, I vowed I would not let him win.

“You shed first,” I snarled. “I don’t trust you, oh brother. I am aware you desire to kill me, and I should end you right now.”

“How about…” The prince held his hands up. “we shed at the same time? Until we run out of layers to take off. And, well…the one who is naked first…wins.”

Wins. As in, whoever won, the other would die. I snorted at this ridiculous challenge.

“Very well. At the same time then, detestable little gnat.”

“Ok. Then…” The prince began to disrobe. “Again.”

I wriggled out of the next skin, as he slowly took off his next dress. It was not entirely as pleasant as the previous, but it was still easy to do. I huffed as I saw the other begin to undress once more.

“Again, then.”

The third time was harder. It was like peeling away time, and I felt some sting as I molted, became even lighter than before. The prince’s next dress piled onto my third skin.

“Again.”

It was easy for him to shed his dress, but it was becoming more difficult for me to shed my skin. I could still feel the wriggle inside of myself, but it was starting to hurt as I molted the next layer off. I let out a pant as I stared at the other; I felt, once more, lighter than before, but also much more out of sorts. I didn’t feel my bristles respond, even as I tried to call them up as a threat; indeed, I didn’t feel my bristles at all.

“Again?”

I let out a hiss as I sloughed off that next skin. It hurts. It really was starting to become painful. There must be a reason it hurt. Still yet I can feel something of myself moving, even thrashing, within me.

“Again?”

“Wait, you.” I tried to collect myself, make myself taller, more intimidating to put him off, but it took a moment longer than I wanted it to. “Wait.”

“You’re not conceding, are you?”

“No! Never!” I snarled in between pants. “Not…not to you.”

“All right.” The prince’s hand nevertheless went up to his dress, waiting for me. How I loathed him! “When you’re ready.”

I could not help but let out a moan as I shed this sixth skin. Sixth. Surely, I did not have more layers of skins to shed? It was clear to me that the prince has still more to shed. I should have been the winner. I should have killed him where he stood and ended this pointless game by now.

But, I could not. To my horror I could feel myself wriggle even more violently beneath the tender fold of skins that were still there. For perhaps the first time since my birth, I could feel myself shake from the pain, for even then I had yet more to shed. For the first time since being cast aside, I felt a real fear. Fear of what might happen, for the prince still seemed to have so many dresses to shed. Still he waited for me, until I was prepared to shed again, and oh, god. It was worse. It was truly painful.

I let out a cry as I emerged from my next shell, a small and old skin much like that of my youth, and I saw the prince lumber towards me, layers of shifts still clinging to him. I watched with horror as a strange purple ooze started to pool around me when my skin came off. I could feel something warm drift from my sides. Was it blood? Was it _my_ blood? It must have been. I remembered the blood from when I was cast out of the castle. Because of him.

Him, who was everything I was not.

“You hate me.” He finally spoke once more, his voice was quiet and solemn. “I can tell you hate me, because of what happened to you. If I could take back the years you spent alone because of me, I would.”

I leaned away from him, letting out a warning snarl.

“Do not pretend you know how I feel!” Because of my agony, I sounded more like I was crying than yelling at him, and I hated it and him more than ever. “You, who had everything handed to you, while the sun and the moon bowed to you. Yet even now you won’t be satisfied until I am dead, yes?”

“…No.” I felt my heart pound in fright as he began to undress his eighth layer of clothing; I shuddered at the prospect of doing likewise. “I don’t feel any satisfaction from making you suffer even an iota.”

I let out a scream as I thrashed angrily out of my own layer of skin. I could feel what is left of my feathers sliding off with the skin, purple puddled around me like a lake, and my fat layers seemed to jiggle and coagulate towards the floor. But I still felt the wriggle. Even then, I could feel myself wriggle under it all. There was still one more skin to shed.

I could not bear it any longer.

“What do you want!? Why do you play this game?!” I screeched angrily, liquid falling from my eyes. “You know I will win, you _must_ know, so you put me through torture before your end! Isn’t that it? You mock me! You hate me! You just want to hurt me!”

The prince didn’t respond with words. He didn’t even look me in the eye. Instead, he simply began to undress once more.

“You…you always hurt me!” I began to wail as I heard my skin snap and slurp sickeningly around me, practically melting down into the floor around me. “I hate you! _I will always hate you!_ ”

I could barely hold myself together now. I was nothing but a giant, unseemly pile of warbling fat and slime and pus and ooze. I surely could not have any more to shed,  and to my relief I realized I didn't, whereas my brother had one more – his undergarments, with the panniers cascading to the floor.

“I win…”

At last.

“I…” I struggled to move. It was so hard now. My body didn’t want to obey movements I’d always made, ever since I moment was born. “I win, _finally_ , I win, I…”

“Yes. You win.” The prince grasped his skirt. “It’s over.”

I gathered my strength to finally, fatally lunge at him. At last, at last. I was certain I’d get what I always wanted.

“Keith! _NOW_!”

I didn’t even see the gnat as he leaped out from the shadows of the chamber, landing right next to the panniers as they ripped in two. I did, however, feel his weapon as he snapped it, hard onto my stomach. I let out a scream as I felt the liquid on the flails he swung at me burn through what was left of my flesh.

“ ** _NOOO!_ **”

I screamed, and tried to attack the knight, but I was smacked again, hard, by the flails. I could not help but try and dodge, yet my body disobeyed me, and I found myself being smacked by flails on all sides. Soon enough the prince ripped off his remaining underwear entirely, revealing the giant barrels he had hidden beneath the whole time. With each hit, he and his knight dipped their flails into the barrel, the golden goop dripping ominously in the candlelight down onto me.

I could not identify what it is. But whatever it was, it was a weakness. I was on fire and I screamed and I cursed and cried.

“I HATE YOU!!” I thrashed with all my willpower, what was left of my tail throwing candles, cloth, anything it could hit. Even the knight was at last knocked unconscious by my wrath. Yet I could not hit the prince no matter how I try – he is too fast. “ **I HATE YOU!!** DIE!! DIE!!...”

I felt a flail hitting me in my head, and the goop dribbles down my throat. I wheezed, acid and spittle bubbling up in my throat as fat, thick liquid filled my eyes and drained out. Oh, it was awful. It was agony. I could barely breathe. What’s left of my body was sizzling. All I could do was struggle against the prince as he threw the last of that awful goop on me. But it wasn’t even struggling; it was simply vibrating, convulsing, as my remaining flesh was seared and smoked away.

My scream was wet, full of liquid. I…I…

“…hate…just...”

Why? Why did he do this? He had stolen everything from me. My rights, my title. Now, he would steal my life in my entirety. He was killing me. I could only feel anger, hate, pain – and something else. 

“…die…”

Regret.

No, I could not regret what I never had. A real wife, a real home, a real family. A life to be proud of. They were never mine to begin with. I gurgled, more of my bodily fluids coming out of my mouth and mixing with what could only be my tears. I was melting. Disintegrating.

The prince’s shadow stood over me, and then bent down, grabbing me in a bear-like hold. With a grunt, he began to drag me across the floor, his feet and hands constantly slipping. Would he choke the life out of me now? No. That would be too kind. Perhaps he would hang what was left of me from the window, innards dripping to the ground, as a memento of his triumph over me.

Me, the evil, bad one. Me, the terrifying Lindorm, the rotten White Rose. Me, the monster.

I could barely see him tossing aside the massive bed curtains, even as he was struggling to keep a hold of me in his arms. Then, the sheets were thrown off, revealing the straw beneath the sheets. Then, he shoved the straw aside, revealing what had been hidden from me this entire time beneath the wedding bed.

A white liquid lapped lazily against the tufts of straw that still floated on top. The bed had really been a giant trough in disguise. Of course. He was to drown me. He would take me into the liquid and then drown me, until there was nothing left to kill.

I tried to thrash, but I could not even move. I was too weak, too hurt, and the goop still seared deep into my skin. All I could do is cry. I could not even beg for my life. If I could I doubted the prince would listen to me.

A pathetic monster, being led to a pathetic end.

“…eith…ake up…” As I felt my life begin to slip, the prince’s voice became more distant. “…elp me, the rest of…in here…must…push… _push_!”

I felt a hand on my front at this. The touch was soft, almost nonexistent, but when the touch left me, I felt strangely clean in that spot. Even as I felt my eyes continue to leak, even as I screamed and cried, I felt the touch return every other moment, as if someone was trying to dry my snout.

“It’s ok.” I heard a whisper. It sounded like the prince. But it could not be. I was a monster, and I hated him. He was killing me and thus must have hated me back. “It’s ok…it’ll be…”

I let out a weak warble as I felt myself being submerged into the liquid.

“…ok…”

All I could see is white. And then, at last, black.

 

* * *

 

Warmth was the first thing I felt when I became aware again.

I thought I must have been dead. I felt so light, so bare. I felt no pain. Indeed, I felt nothing but a warmth I had never before known. It was said that monsters went to hell when they died, if they went anywhere at all. Perhaps I was in hell now. After all, was I not a monster as well?

I…was afraid. I had to ponder - could I be dead, and afraid? Or—

 _No,_ I slowly realized as I came to. _I’m not dead._

_I’m breathing._

My eyes bolted open, and I found myself still partly submerged. Warm arms were wrapped around me, and I slowly turned to see that it was the prince – _of all people_! -  as the one holding me. His chest was bare, and his eyes were tired; he looked as if he was just roused by my own awakening. I stared at his face; the acid had eaten a deep gash indeed. It ran like an arc over his nose, all the way to his cheeks, and still looked fresh and ready to bleed at the slightest provocation.

“You’re all right.”

Why did he look so relieved to see that I live? Something wasn’t right. He shouldn’t have seemed so happy. Or…or as large. Indeed, he was much, _much_ larger than I remembered him being. He looked back at me, his relief turning into surprise. His hand began to go towards my face; I weakly attempted to back up, but found my back hitting wood. Oh. The trough. The liquid was completely mucky and dark as it reflected the dying candlelight. The prince had put me in the trough…when he…killed me?

No. Somehow, I was not dead. Even as weak as I was, unable to fight back, I knew I was not dead and he would not kill me. I could feel his hand touch my face as I sat helplessly, and…no. Something still wasn’t right. I did not have a face he could hold, and he was still too big. I should have been towering over him, even sitting as I was. I looked down at his hand – his hand was _huge_ and that made no sense with the puny size I had recalled him to be - then back up at him.

“…I…” My voice. Even weakened as it was, it also sounded wrong. It was pitched too high, and I felt no acid in my throat, or blood or bile, as I had before.  “…I don’t understand. I should be dead.”

The prince closed his eyes and shook his head. Slowly he started to stand, with what was left of his clothing and the leather straps that had held those barrels clinging wetly to his thighs and hips, along with clumps of slime. He was…seriously a giant. _How_? What had _happened_? Why am I looking up at him? And—

“Here…” Suddenly, his arms were around me, and he was then lifting me up with worrying ease. My weakness made it impossible to fight back. “Look. Over there.”

My eyes darted towards where the prince motioned his head. It was a mirror at the head of the false-bed, one of several cracked and smashed from when my tail had smashed against it. I stared at the large shard still dangling from the frame.

There was a human the prince was holding in his arms, staring back at me with wide grey eyes. Long, dark hair cascaded around him with wavy curls, all the way down to his shaking legs, covering parts of his face as a result. He was not as muscular as the prince, or as sure on his feet. Indeed, he looked truly terrified. He looked as terrified as I…as I felt…

I weakly tried to shift against the prince’s chest. The human in the reflection did likewise. I began to tremble, and the figure trembled as well. I lowered my head and the figure did so as well, watching as a left hand raise up, but not a right. The reflection had a stump there, with no arm.

The jaggedness of the stump was too reminiscent of the limb being impaled on a spear, and then ripped off haphazardly. A pointed stick – or, perhaps, the sharpened spike of a parapet’s decoration, long ago, as one fell from a castle’s high tower.

The hair then fell fully into my eyes, including one long, thick lock of white which tumbled from above my brow to my…my legs. Like…the rest of my hair. I felt tears sting my eyes once more, and I felt what little strength I had leave me again. Instead, I felt an indescribable emotion fill me from the pit of my stomach, all the way to my head. I didn’t know what that feeling was. It felt like I was upset, and yet not. But oh _god_. That reflection.

Realization pooled into my stomach, for it it looked just like the prince’s twin.

 _That is_ my _reflection._

I started to stumble sideways, my left arm grabbing at the prince’s arms. He drew me in as I gasped for air, unable to control those strange new emotions, or the water that was in my eyes. It couldn’t be. It had to be a dream. Maybe it was a nightmare. Maybe it was the devil’s cruel trick on me, that of course I could _never_ be human, but why not give the illusion that I could ever look at all like the prince I so despised? The prince, who was loved, and beloved, and—

I felt the prince’s hand card gently through my hair, and I finally found my voice again.

“…I…I look like you…” I sounded so different. I was hyperventilating as I spoke. I was going to faint, but if I did faint, if I closed my eyes, I was certain I would wake up and again be the monster I had always been. This could not be real. “You…did this.”

“…I’m sorry.”

His voice was a gentle whisper as he brought my head to his shoulder.

“I didn’t want to trick you. But…” I could faintly hear Keith stirring behind me. Had he been unconscious that whole time? “I had no choice. It was the only way…to help you.”

My arm, unbidden, found itself encircling the prince’s back. The detestable, horrible prince who was the brother of a monster who hated the kingdom and him.

“I never wanted to hurt you. Intentionally or not.” The top of my hair started to feel wet. His voice started to waver. He was… “I’m so sorry. If you never forgive me, I don’t care. You’re my brother and…monster or human…no matter what happens to you now…”

I shut my eyes, tight as I could, then I opened them. I was still small, pale, and boneless against the prince. Again I closed my eyes and open them. Still in his arms. It was impossible. And yet it was happening.

“I will be the brother you deserve. If…if you…”

He lost his composure at last, and openly sobbed into my hair; overwhelmed by the now, by the small form I was in, I could not help but do likewise to his shoulder, even as the door to the room burst open to our howling. Multiple pairs of boots scurried in, and shouts began to echo through the massive chamber.

“Your Highness! You—you’re alive!?”

“He holds a man in his arms…?!”

“Where is the Lindorm?!”

“That man you hold…Your Highness, he looks just like…!”

I felt more arms holding me; I felt my arm and legs being lifted up, and then, a warm cloth covering my body, wiping off the slime and grit as I was carried off. I did not know where they were taking me. All I knew was that it was warm as well, that I was being further wrapped in something firm, and the sun was shining through the windows as I eventually felt a softness pressing against my back and head. I could feel myself drift off again as my body settled into the softness around me, yet I was certain that when I woke up and opened my eyes again, I would still be here, like this.

This was real. This was all real.

“I’m here.” I heard the prince again as I fell into the most blissful slumber I could ever recall in my entire life. “I’ll be right here…I promise.”

That…was right. He did this to me. I…was small. Vulnerable. Weak. Human. It was all the prince’s fault. And yet I felt something new towards him, something deeper than gratitude. Stronger than happiness. Maybe, I thought, I would figure out what that feeling was.

Soon. Sleep would come first. Answers could come later.

 

* * *

 

I don’t know when I woke up. When I did, though, he was there, his eyes closed. Just as he promised.

I watched as the first true morning of my humanity broke into my bedroom, the sunlight bathing my body. It was warm, even beneath my sheets. I quietly turned over, my hair covering my face. Some of it, long as it was, ended up in my mouth. I spit it out, and I sighed. I was not upset about it.  On the contrary, it felt amazing to have hair.

I slowly stood from my bed, my legs shaking as I stumbled around haphazardly. After three steps, I stumbled and fell on my knees.

“Brother—!?”

I heard the prince run to me from my bedside; of course he must have woken up when he sensed I was not near him. I wasn’t surprised, yet that time, I wasn’t angry.

I was laughing.

“That hurt.” I gasped, letting out a cough as throbbing pain radiated through my legs. “I hit my knees…”

“I know…” He went to grab me, to help me. “Are you all right?”

I just kept laughing as he dragged my boneless body upright. It felt like a dream, still, albeit a sore one. But I knew it wasn’t.

“Brother…?”

He wouldn’t understand. Or perhaps, because he was my twin, he might have. But either way, it was amazing. I hurt my knees.

_I had knees to hurt._

 

* * *

 

I cannot explain what it is like to be human, after being a monster my whole life. When someone has been a monster for so long, their mindset becomes like a monster’s. For so long, I was certain the world hated me. I was certain everything was the prince’s fault, for being in the womb with me, and being what was wanted while I was everything that was feared. So, I hated him, and the world, back. I thought for certain that by taking my rightful birthright from him, I would have my vengeance. I would find contentment, happiness, and fulfillment in gaining those things by force.

It had only been a few days since my transformation, and it was all so different. I still needed help walking, so unused to it as I was. I knew nothing of simple things, of dressing myself, of writing, of reading, or eating things other than raw cow. Nor had I any understanding of who my parents were as people, what countries and people lay beyond our borders, the knowledge of geopolitical considerations, or the philosophy of kingship, or the subtle etiquette of court life.

I knew nothing beyond simple things. All else had been long denied to me. They were never denied to my brother. He thus was almost always by my side as I struggled to begin my first steps into being the prince I had always dreamed of being. Not only a prince, though, but a man, a human. He seemed to know better than anyone what I needed and when I needed it. Was it a twin’s intuition? If so, I didn’t possess it. Or perhaps I did, and he simply responded to when I inadvertently used it.

Now, I was with him as we both sat in my father’s apartments. My father was sleeping, at that point; my actions as the Lindorm had a great, terrible effect on his health. He was recovering, at least, from the shock of seeing a second son he never had, first as I was, and now as I what I became. So, we waited, preparing his favorite snack – a glass of brandy and dates.

After sniffing the brandy, as I’d never had alcohol before (and then decided after one whiff that I never would have any ever), I sank back into my seat, carding a hand through my hair. I still could not believe I had real hair, and not just feathers and bristles. I had gotten my hair washed for the very first time that morning, and it still smelled of honey and lavender. I allowed it all to cascade around me in my chair, like a princess might have in her rooms. I was not ready to cut it, even though short hair seemed to be the fashion in the kingdom. I decided, for the moment, to keep it as long as it was, messy as it might have looked to others.

It was more than just enjoying the hair when before I had none. The length, and the forelock of pure white I possessed, set me apart from the prince – no, my brother. Though he now bore a facial scar from my acid, and a right arm where I did not have one, we otherwise looked so much alike it was shocking.

“I…” It was hard for me to use his name as I felt myself speak, even as I grew used to speaking with a human voice. Of course, I knew what my brother’s name was. I, however, still had none of my own. “Brother.”

“Yes?” He looked up at me from his drink. “What is it, my brother?”

“…how did you know?”

His eyebrows raised up at my question.

“Know?”

“…about…” I frowned. “How to make me…human. How did you know to do that?”

He smiled a little at my question, as if he expected me to ask earlier. Maybe I should have.

“Do you remember when I talked of the witch that mother had consulted, when she desired a child?” The prince folded his hands. “After you threatened me, I decided to seek her out. She lives deep in the woods of the kingdom of Altea, so I went to see her.”

“She lives?”

“Yes, but she no longer practices the craft. Instead, she referred me to her successor.” A wry smile crossed his face. “The princess was, thankfully, willing to take the time to listen to me.”

My own eyes widen as my brain solved the puzzle.

“…She really was in on this…” I was stunned. “...I…I wonder how I should thank her.”

I felt a thousand regrets quietly crawl up my spine as I thought more and more on my actions. It hurt to realize just how callous and destructive I had been. How truly monstrous I had been.

“I must apologize to her, and her people. And…to your people, brother. To you.” I brought a hand to my face. “I have done…so many terrible things.”

“ _Our_ people. There’s nothing to apologize for, brother.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but the prince brought his hand up.

“I mean it. It will take time for the kingdom overall to trust you because of what has happened, this is true. But anyone with a wit about them would have been able to realize that you were the way you were because of circumstances beyond your control.” The prince sighed. “Mother’s greed and frustration in trying to have children created the curse of greed and anger inside of you even as we grew in our mother’s womb, and no one save mother and her midwife even knew you existed after that. No one in this kingdom would have known how to remove that curse as you grew up, least of all you. You can’t blame yourself for something you had no hand in causing - or for having no knowledge of how to reverse it.”

I looked down at this, and I feel my brother’s hand on my shoulder. I knew that my brother spoke true, but I still could not help but feel sadness, yet also, something like hope. Hope and sadness, at the same time? Ah, being a new human was so complicated.

“Brother…” No. He had a name. He deserved to hear me call him that. “…Takashi…”

He squeezed my shoulder.

“I never hated you, you know.” He smiled. “You’ve been suffering for your entire life. Now, I want to make it up to you, and be the brother you deserve. And…I want us to both experience the world, in the light, together, when father recovers. Are you willing to come with me?”

“I…” I hesitated. “What about your marriage?”

“My marriage?”

“…The one you were negotiating when I met you.” My eyes narrowed in thought. “What about that?”

“…That…” I could feel the sheepishness rolling off him. “The negotiations had shifted towards you being the groom instead of me, but the king isn’t interested in either of us marrying his daughter anyways. It turns out she’s allergic to roses.”

I…I…was that true?

When I looked at my brother’s face, he seemed almost embarrassed, his cheeks red as the roses that engendered him. I couldn’t help it; I burst out laughing. Soon enough, he was chortling along with me.

Of _all_ the _reasons_.

 

* * *

 

It has now been some time – several months - since I and my brother went on our travels together. We left in the night, and took only a single guard with us, as we are travelling incognito. Though, perhaps that isn’t entirely true – people seem to recognize my brother quite easily whenever we end up in civilization, and constantly throng his horse. Every noble within a day’s ride of where he is at any given point seem to inundate him with offers of hospitality in their keeps, which of course he must accept as a matter of courtesy. We find repose only in the remotest parts, where people don’t always find the Prince of the Red Rose so familiar – in those places where cows roam without care.

I, on the other hand, somehow enjoy a kind of anonymity my brother sorely lacks no matter where we are. Word has only started to come forth that the horrible Lindorm was no longer a Lindorm, or horrible, or either. It is certainly not common knowledge that we are twins, and those who do happen to know do not expect the Prince of the White Rose to look like me. My long hair and new beard makes me look quite different from him. Given what my brother has been going through with every engagement, royal, official or otherwise, I am glad for it, even as I know I will one day have to endure such inanity as well.

However, it is in those precious times when we are alone, out in the remote places where once I had been in the shadows eating illicit bovine, that I can see now why my brother has brought me here. It’s not simply to teach me the ways of the world, but so that we might truly know one another. Indeed, I have learned more about my brother than I ever thought I could. I have learned his favorite food, his favorite drink, his favorite color. He enjoys knitting and gardening in his spare time, and enjoys reading books of the matters and romances and the most elegant _trobar clus_ of the age.

He also rides on horseback to the furthest points in his land with his favorite horse when he can; his favorite is a massive draft with a silver-dappled face and white hair - which he naturally brought as his steed for our journey. I can see the appeal - I find that I also like horse riding. It is freeing and exhilarating to go so fast and have the wind in your face. My horse is much like his, but quieter, less bold, and it is still fully adjusting to me as its rider.

I also learned of what might just be my brother’s true love. I see the way he looks at the guard he has brought, the guard who has been at his side this entire time. I see the way Keith looks back at him, and I wonder if I will be the first, and only one, to marry, after all that has happened. It would be terribly ironic that I made such trouble for nothing, but had I not, perhaps I wouldn’t be here now.

It is night now. As I lean against the roll that will be my pillow for the night, and look back and forth at the stars and the grazing livestock around us, I still cannot believe how different things are for me. I still feel the things I felt as a monster – sadness, anger, even hate. Back home, my mother still cannot look me in the eye, and I don’t know when – or if – I can truly forgive her. Sometimes, I look out to the lands around me, the mountains and plains and streams of sparkling bright blue water, and I still feel the resentment of so many years and experiences stolen from me.

Yet I feel other things as well. Relief, and a quiet peace in my soul that I never had before. Happiness with myself, and even excitement for myself. A realization that I must let go of the past, even if I will never forget it.

“I think…” I finally speak, as I absentmindedly pet a calf that has rested next to me. “I think I’m ready.”

 “Ready?” Takashi looks over at me from where he lies. “For what, brother?”

 I smile to myself.

 “I think I’d like a name.” I look back over at him. “I don’t want to just be Lindorm. I want to be something more than that. I want to show that I’m not what I was.”

 Takashi sits up at this. I can see the anticipation in his eyes as they widen at me.

 “What were you thinking?”

I take a deep breath. I’ve been thinking of it for many months, and now, I know what to call myself. I am no longer the Lindworm. I am no longer a beast. I am a man, a human. The Prince of the White Rose, who will bloom alongside the Red Rose and rule the kingdom. Proof that even a monster beyond hate and redemption can somehow find a happily ever after, or at the very least, real happiness.

So, dear reader. Thank you for waiting so long for me to introduce myself.

You may call me 諒.  

 

 

**E N D**


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